The present invention relates to disposable pull-on wearing articles useful in the form of disposable pull-on diapers, disposable pants for incontinent patient, disposable training pants or the like.
An invention aiming to provide a good fit wherein a crotch region of disposable wearing articles such as disposable diapers can be placed against a wearer's crotch region is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 1997-173381 (Citation 1). In the diaper according to this disclosure, an absorbent panel comprises a first absorbent section laid at a longitudinally middle zone of the diaper and a pair of second absorbent sections laid along transversely opposite side edges of the crotch region and respectively spaced apart from the first absorbent section. Each of the second absorbent sections is formed along its side edge facing away from the first absorbent section with three-dimensional gathers. The crotch region of the diaper, when put on a wearer, presents a sectional shape as illustrated by FIG. 10 (corresponding to FIG. 4 in Citation 1). The diaper illustrated by FIG. 10 has the first absorbent section 104, the second absorbent sections 105 and the three-dimensional gathers 106. The second absorbent sections 105 rise up along the respective side edges of the first absorbent section 104 as the three-dimensional gathers 106 rise up and, in consequence, these first absorbent section 104, second absorbent sections 105, and the three-dimensional gathers 106 cooperate with one-another to form a concavity 107 bulging downward in the crotch region. This concavity 107 is available as a temporary retention space for urine discharged by the wearer until urine is completely absorbed by the absorbent panel.
An absorbent garment disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2548718 (Citation 2) also aims to provide a good fit wherein the crotch region of the garment can be placed against a wearer's crotch region. This garment has an absorbent panel and a fastening means. The absorbent panel is formed along its transversely opposite side edges with open cutouts. In a vicinity of these cutouts, the absorbent panel is provided with elastic members, and a contractile force of these elastic members deforms the absorbent panel so as to close openings of the respective cutouts. Such deformation ensures that the absorbent panel well conforms with a wearer's crotch region and a concavity bulging downward is formed in the crotch region of the garment.
The diaper disclosed in Citation 1 intends to facilitate the transversely opposite lateral zones of the absorbent panel in the crotch region, i.e., the second absorbent sections 105, to be deformed in the transverse direction by dividing the absorbent panel into the first absorbent section 104 and the second absorbent sections 105. However, upon such deformation, the absorbent panel is compressed in the longitudinal direction, describing a circular arc in the back-and-forth direction of the wearing article and forming a plurality of distinct creases. Consequently, the absorbent panel becomes bulky as the wearing article is put on the wearer in the crotch region, and such bulkiness may obstruct free movement of the wearer's legs and/or deteriorate an appearance of the article when worn by the wearer. In addition, to put the article illustrated in this Citation 1 on the wearer, the waist regions and the leg-surrounding regions should be placed closely against the wearer's corresponding regions to position the article relative to the wearer's body and then the front and rear waist regions should be connected together using fastener tapes. After the article has been put on the wearer in this manner, the crotch region may often be deformed in an inverted V-shape along the wearer's crotch region and the concavity 107 illustrated by FIG. 10 cannot be formed until after the crotch region has been gripped and pulled downward with the fingers. According to the disclosure of Citation 1, both the first absorbent section 104 and the second absorbent sections 105 are sandwiched between a liquid-pervious topsheet 101 and a liquid-impervious backsheet 102, and in boundary regions between the first and second absorbent sections 104, 105, these sheets 101, 102 are placed upon and bonded integrally. However, if any quantity of pulp particles and/or super-absorbent polymer particles is present in those boundary regions, it may be difficult or impossible to put the top- and backsheets 101, 102 in close contact with each other and to bond them together using adhesives or welding techniques, due to the presence of those particles. In the case of the absorbent panel having the top- and backsheets 101, 102 not properly bonded together in the vicinity of the first absorbent section 104 and/or second absorbent sections 105, the first absorbent section 4 and the second absorbent sections 105, particularly the second absorbent sections 105 each having a relatively small size are apt to get out of their predetermined shapes.
The garment disclosed in Citation 2 is also of the open-type and, similarly to the article disposed in Citation 1, it is difficult for the absorbent panel to be deformed so that the openings of the respective cutouts may be reliably closed, and it is also difficult for the crotch region to be formed with the concavity.